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Brief Synopsis

A woman uncovers deadly secrets when she visits her late husband's family.

After Sandra Marshall learns that James Demarest has died, she surprises his uncle, Mark Caldwell, with the news that she and Jim were secretly married. Although Sandra shows Mark a marriage license, he refuses to believe her claim because Jim never mentioned it. Sandra reminds Mark of the conditions of Jim's mother's will: Jim's money was to be held in trust until he reached thirty or until he married. She had married Jim as a favor, in exchange for the money which she needed to finish her education. At the end of six months, she was to divorce him, but as only five months have passed since the marriage, Sandra now stands to inherit two million dollars. At dinner, Sandra meets Jim's younger sister Julie, who berates Mark for opening a letter addressed to her from Ronnie Manning, the boy she loves. Later, Sandra questions Julie and learns that Mark had interfered with Jim's engagement to another woman. Because Jim was buried in a closed casket, Sandra is surprised to learn that he died of pneumonia. She is also shocked by the restrictions Mark places on Julie, who is not allowed to leave the estate and is constantly watched by the servants. That night, an hysterical Julie runs into Sandra's room, frightened by the sound of agonized cries coming from Mark's laboratory. Sandra tries to calm her, then hears the cries herself. The next morning, following Sandra's directions, Julie tells Mark about the sounds, but omits mentioning her visit to Sandra's room. Mark attributes her experience to a vivid imagination. When Sandra later examines Jim's room, she notices that his pipes and sports clothes are missing, and Julie becomes agitated at the thought that her brother might still be alive. When Mark hears this, he locks Julie in her room and orders Sandra not to fill her head with fantasies. That night, Sandra enters the laboratory through the dumbwaiter. She eavesdrops on a conversation between Mark and Jackson Laidell, a servant, about the lodge at Three Hills, but her investigations are cut short by a woman's scream. Julie has fallen to her death from her window. When Mark calls the fall an accident, Sandra accuses him of lying and reveals that she also heard the screams during the night. After Julie's funeral, Mark tells Sandra that proof of her marriage to Jim has been discovered and apologizes for his rudeness to her. Sandra accepts his apology, but still determined to learn the truth, takes a horseback ride to the lodge at Three Hills. There she learns that Jim is still alive. At first Jim does not recognize her, but then tells her that he will escape that night and meet her at the house. Back at the house, Sandra confronts Mark with her knowledge that Jim is alive. Mark explains that when Jim and Julie's father died, he was violently insane, and consequently, their mother put their inheritance in trust. Jim is being kept a prisoner because he killed a man in a fight, a scandal that would have ruined the political career of Mark's brother Charles. The judge agreed to keep the murder a secret as long as Mark kept Jim away from others. Mark adds that Julie must have suspected the truth and killed herself. As Mark finishes his story, Jim appears, and a struggle ensues, during which Jim is killed. Mark and Sandra are now free to pursue the possibility of a romance.